Selectica to expand base in India

Nanda Kasabe

Selectica Inc., a leading provider of Internet selling systems (ISS) that

enable computers to sell complex products and services more effectively through

direct sales and the Internet, plans to expand base in India. The company is

also readying itself to meet the challenges posed in the wake of the opening of

the insurance sector.

Vice President (Indian Operations) Dr SS Sunderrajan believes that India

could turn out to be a very dynamic market. "We plan to build a presence in

four sectors - the four-wheeler and two-wheeler segments and the building and

engineering industries,'' he said, adding that they wished to make buying

simpler for the common man. The idea is to create a technology den for

horizontal portals for the Indian market. And for this, we need tools that can

measure up to the dynamics of the market, he asserted.

The company plans to build a formidable presence throughout India and invest

Rs 10 crore in setting up a development center in the North. "In all

probability, it could be Delhi," Dr Sunderrajan said. While he declined to

divulge the details, Dr Sunderrajan said that the company wished to set up base

in the eastern parts of the country.

The online sales configurator developed by Selectica has proved to be quite

popular with its major clients like BMW, which has reduced its selling process

from 15 steps to just three. The Online Sales Configurator is a software package

that offers optimal solutions based on user input compared with predefined

product data. The configurator interactively assists buyers through selection,

configuration, quoting, pricing and fulfillment of products and services that

precisely meet their needs.